Welcome to the Coastal Rainforest Research, Wildlife Conservation & Community Projects blog, where you can keep up to date with all the projects and information from GVI in Costa Rica

Global Vision International (GVI) is a non-political, non-religious organisation, which through its alliance with over 150 project partners in over 30 countries, provides opportunities for volunteers to fill a critical void in the fields of environmental research, conservation, education and community development.

Facts and Figures Quepos Community Project

Ongoing education support to over 330 primary school students within 2 local schools (2011-2012)

227,400 hours of Primary School students hours taught (2011-2012)

Over 1700 hours of English classes taught to adults and secondary school students (2011-2012)

Volunteer led English lessons with the 5 best students in each grade within the structure of El Cocal Primary School and Maria Luisa Primary School in Boca Vieja.

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Sunday, October 16, 2011

The GVI Costa Rica expedition relocated to a remote spot at the southern end of Tortuguero National Park at the beginning of 2010. I was privileged enough to have been a part of this expedition throughout this pioneering year and would like to just take a moment to talk about what GVI have been able to achieve and are continuing to work towards.

Tortuguero is justifiably famous for its globally important numbers of endangered marine turtles and GVI has been working with the Sea Turtle Conservancy for many years to help with the monitoring program of these amazing creatures (reports from this program can be found on the Sea Turtle Conservancy website - www.conserveturtles.org/costarica.php?page=season-reports). GVI have also been carrying out gruelling 15 mile ‘Jag-walks’ (the very name sends a shiver along the spine!) along the length of Tortuguero Beach each week to assess the extent of jaguar predation on the nesting turtles. This phenomenon, though not completely unique to Tortuguero National Park, is to my knowledge not being recorded and monitored to this degree anywhere else. A publication of these findings is due to be published soon (more details to come in the future) and should make essential reading for anyone who underwent the massive physical challenge involved.

Tortuguero also comprises of a significant terrestrial environment of winding canals and dense tropical forest and to put into context, other than at the northern end of the National Park in the immediate vicinity of the town of Tortuguero itself, the vast majority of it is inaccessible and unknown. GVI were given the opportunity to base themselves at the southern end of the National Park, just north of the Rio Jalova river mouth. The base camp was the site of a former farm (which still operates on a small scale as a coconut plantation and with the infamous herd of cows) and is a prime location for study of this area, having easy access to the beach, the river mouth, the open plantation and different sub-habitats within the surrounding tropical forest. Though obviously humans have been present in the area for many years, nobody has ever conducted any biological research here (to my knowledge). For a passionate field biologist such as myself, it was a paradise teeming with wildlife. During 2010, the staff and volunteers of the expedition spent many long hours in the field, recording and identifying species of animals in the area, conducting canoe-based surveys of the waterways and collecting information on the elusive mammalian residents of the area using track evidence and camera-traps. Not only did this provide expedition members with hundreds of memorable encounters with wildlife but also resulted in a staggering amount of data collected. Reports summarising and discussing all of this will soon be available but to summarise a few key facts:

·373 species of mammal, bird, reptile and amphibian were recorded during 2010.

·62 canal bird surveys were carried out collecting over 2000 records to provide a baseline set of data for continuing monitoring of these areas.

·265 records were made of mammal tracks and sightings along the Juana Lopez Trail.

And this is just the beginning. GVI continues to record sightings and carry out surveys, whilst also expanding its projects wherever possible. As regular readers of the blog no doubt already know, the GVI camera trapping project is going from strength to strength and providing unparalleled insight into the mammalian fauna of the area, and providing the first data regarding numbers of individual jaguars in this area of the Park. I eagerly await further developments from this project.

Jonathan Groom - Ex-Field Staff

Look out for Jon's next post in a few days, highlighting the information that GVI has provided to the Ornithological Association of Costa Rica.

quotes from the field...

"The work carried out by GVI Costa Rica makes a vital contribution to conservation and scientific research and personally speaking, I am proud to be able to say that I played a part in this project."
Michelle Miller, 10 Week Volunteer

"Having a truly incredible time here at Caño Palma. Every day here is amazing and brings exciting new things to see and do."

"The location is brilliant, the people are great and the wildlife is fantastic. So far I’ve seen green turtles, two-toed and three-toed sloths, coral snakes, a vine snake, green iguanas, basilisk lizards, a Neotropical river otter, caiman, crocodiles, strawberry poison-dart frogs, howler monkeys, spider monkeys and white-faced capuchin monkeys to name just a few!"

"I also see loads of beautiful birds every day, including the two stunning species of toucan found here."

"I’m enjoying everything we do here but some of my favourite things so far have been the grueling 15 mile Jag Walk, climbing the rainforest-clad Cerro (hill), and of course the ever exciting turtle night walks."

"Getting to count a turtle’s eggs whilst she lays them is a real privilege, which I’ve been fortunate to experience twice so far. Measuring a turtle, helping tag and doing the body check are also great to do, even if you do get covered in sand and occasionally whacked by a flipper!"

"Walking through the rainforest and traveling along the canals are other things I love doing here, as the scenery is wonderful and you always see some really interesting things."

I can’t really think of anything bad to say about this place, even the frequent rainstorms, the humidity, the early mornings and being woken by screaming howler monkeys just adds to the experience, and it’s certainly worth being filthy and covered in various insect bites to be here.

I can’t wait to see what other amazing experiences 5 more weeks in Costa Rica will bring." Alex Page from the UK, Expedition Member from July-September 2008

“I was impressed with the level of professionalism of the GVI staff, who were helpful, enthusiastic and clearly passionate about the work they do here at Jalova. I have had a wonderful time and feel inspired to use the knowledge I have learnt in the classroom. Thank you very much." Mrs Ali Omell, Turtle Project Volunteer